PESHAWAR: With no let-up in their tensions for the third consecutive day, lawyers and civil servants staged strikes and protests against each other across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Monday and announced more in the days ahead.

Both sides blamed each other for the controversy, which began on Thursday night following the arrest of senior lawyer Syed Ghufranullah Shah over an FIR registered against him on a complaint of Peshawar’s additional assistant commissioner Aftab Ahmad for allegedly attacking his guards.

On Monday, both lawyers as well as civil servants backed by several unions of government employees observed strikes and took out rallies against each other across the province.

In the provincial capital, bureaucracy and other government employees demonstrated against legal practitioners on the lawns of the Civil Secretariat. They later marched on the Chief Minister’s House.

Stage strikes, rallies against each other, govt promises early resolution of issue

Spokesman for the government Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif met protesters and promised early resolution of the lawyers-officers tussle, which, he said, is troubling the people.

On the other hand, members of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association (PHCBA) and District Bar Association boycotted courts in the provincial capital and protested against the alleged torture of a senior lawyer.

Also, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council announced the boycott of courts across the court for today (Tuesday) over the government officers’ protests and use of ‘indecent’ language against lawyers, while the Pakistan Bar Council put its weight behind the lawyers’ stand on the matter and condemned the torture of senior advocate Ghufranullah Shah.

A joint statement issued by the government officers and employees unions said a complete pen-down strike was observed across the province.

According to it, the representatives of all associations of civil servants condemned the ‘unfortunate and unlawful act happened with an assistant commissioner, who was performing his official duties’ and warned that any unilateral action taken against the AC won’t be acceptable to them.

The statement said keeping the general public hardships in view, the government officials unions decided that to continue the strike by wearing black armbands until June 9, 2022.

“If necessary measures are not taken as committed today, the future strategy will be to go on a complete lockdown of government offices across the province or en masse leave for indefinite period by all civil servants of the province,” the statement read.

Meanwhile, the All Pakistan PCS Officers Association, in a statement, voiced concern about the ‘mishandling of the situation’.

In a joint meeting, the PHCBA and PDBA passed a resolution demanding the arrest of AAC Aftab Ahmad and others concerned and their suspension from service within 24 hours.

They said their strike would continue until the dismissal of the AAC and others culpable of the issue.

The participants declared the officers’ strike illegal and unconstitutional, and demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident.

Meanwhile, the PHCBA announced an indefinite strike at the principal seat of the Peshawar High Court and the courts of Nowshera, Charsadda, Mardan, Kohat, Tangi, Takhtbai, Swabi, Shabqadar, Katlang, Chota Lahor, Hangu, Khyber, Mohmand, Kurram and Orakzai.

Also, the Pakistan Bar Council called the Inter-Provincial Convention on the matter.

Also on Monday, the government officials staged protests against lawyers in Bajaur, Lower Dir, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Mohmand, Abbottabad, Mardan and other districts.

Patwaris and other government employees observed a pen-down strike in Mansehra district and marched on roads saying interference in the administration’s work was unjustified and intolerable.

Meanwhile, the Peshawar High Court Bar Association and Peshawar District Bar Association filed petitions with the high court seeking orders for the chief secretary to proceed against leaders of different government servant bodies for giving the June 6 strike call.

They also requested the court to declare illegal the news releases issued by different government employees’ organisations, including the Pakistan Administrative Services (PAS) Association, Provincial Management Services (PMS) Association and KP Tehsildar Association.

The petitioners, whose lawyers included Mohammad Tariq Afridi, Babar Khan Yousafzai, Sanaullah and others, insisted that the KP Government Servants (Conduct) Rules, 1987, and KP Government Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 2011, applied to every person, who was a member of the civil service of the province or was the holder of a civil post in connection with the affairs of the province.

They added that the respondent organisations and Chitral deputy commissioner had issued separate news releases at the behest of Peshawar’s deputy commissioner about the strike call at the provincial level, an act of gross misconduct in terms of Rule 2(I) of the KP Government Servants (E&D) Rules, and therefore, those officials were liable to be proceeded against under the rules.

Published in Dawn,June 7th, 2022